Politics & Government

Lower Macungie Commissioners Consider 'Draconian' Measures

Non-payment of sewerage bills may result in turning off residents' water.

Lower Macungie commissioners unanimously agreed Thursday to advertise an ordinance that says residents who don't pay their sewer bills could have their water turned off until they do.

Solicitor Donald H. Lipson told the panel that township staff is having difficulty collecting some sewerage bills, and that the staff was looking for ways to bring some of the accounts up to date.

He prefaced his remarks by saying that the commissioners would have to amend the current delinquent sewer enforcement ordinance to include the methods in order to implement them.

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His first suggestion was to put a lien on the property of residents who are more than 60 days overdue with payments.

"The second is a major tool, but it's Draconian. You can shut off their water until they pay the bill. It's a great threat," Lipson said.

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His third suggestion was to collect the payments by civil suit by obtaining a judgment before a district judge.

Commissioners Roger Reis, Ryan Conrad, Douglas Brown and Joseph Pugliese unanimously voted to advertise the amendment that will be voted on at a future meeting. Commissioner Ron Eichenberg was absent.

In other business, the four commissioners present unanimously voted to approve a Term Sheet, an agreement, between the township and Norfolk Southern Railway Co. to convert the railroad crossing at Orchard Road to an emergency-use only crossing from the regular-use crossing it is right now.

The timing of the conversion, however, is murky. First, there will have to be a crossing created where Sauerkraut Lane meets the tracks. And before that happens, there has to be a need for that crossing.

Township engineer Bill Erdman said that could be years in the future because the need for the crossing at Sauerkraut Lane depends on a developer's need for it.

Erdman reminded the commissioners that the township "is in the driver's seat" on this issue, and that it will not cost them anything because the developer has agreed to stand behind the money needed to create the Sauerkraut Lane crossing.


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